Iraq Assails Resolution But Expects Hussein Ok

November 13, 2002|By E.A. Torriero foreign correspondent

CAIRO, Egypt — Iraq's largely ceremonial parliament on Tuesday defiantly rejected a United Nations resolution to allow weapons inspections, a symbolic snub because the final say on compliance remains with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

In Washington, President Bush warned Iraq to accept the U.N. Security Council agreement calling for inspectors to return to Baghdad after a nearly four-year absence and with broader authority to search for chemical and biological weapons.

Hussein's son, Odai, gave strong indications that the Iraqi hierarchy in the end will accede to the U.N. demands backed last weekend by the pan-Arab leadership.

Still, Odai Hussein, a parliament member who controls an official newspaper and television station, sought to soften the impact of the surrender. He wants the U.N. team to include monitors from Iraq's Arab neighbors, an idea supported by the Arab League but opposed by the United States. "We have to agree to the U.N. Security Council resolution with limits on certain points, but not, we say, conditions," Odai Hussein wrote in a letter to parliament. "There should be Arab experts or technicians and monitors [on the inspection teams] who are familiar with the nuclear, chemical and biological side."

The Bush administration quickly rejected the proposal.

"There's nothing in this resolution that is negotiable," said White House spokesman Sean McCormack.

In Washington, Bush again demanded that Iraq meet the deadline.

"If Saddam Hussein does not comply to the detail of the resolution, we will lead a coalition to disarm him," the president said as he toured a District of Columbia Police Department operations center.

Russia and France, which helped craft the U.N. resolution last week after much U.S. brokering, urged Iraq on Tuesday to quickly meet the U.N. terms.

Russia called on the Iraqi leadership "to exercise self-control and pragmatism," and said that the United Nations "offers the possibility of avoiding the development of a situation of force around Iraq," according to the Interfax news agency, quoting Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov.

In the strongest signal from France that it would support intervention, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said on France-Inter radio that a military strike would be unleashed if Iraq does not cooperate.

While unusual in its public theater -- the sessions are normally closed and secret -- the Iraqi parliamentary vote was largely viewed in the West as a charade to give a semblance of democracy. "I don't think there's anybody who believes the Iraqi parliament has a serious voice in what does or doesn't happen in Iraq," McCormack said. "There is only one voice that matters in this despotic regime and that is from Saddam Hussein."

Still, in remarks to parliament, Odai Hussein, a possible heir to power, appeared to try to sway fellow lawmakers and painted himself as a lone voice of reason among a chorus of dissenters.

The unanimous vote by a show of hands from the 250-member body included allegiance to the "wise leadership of President Saddam, his great ability to assess the situation and his deep vision" to take appropriate action.

It's likely, Western observers say, that the Iraqi leader was using the parliamentary session to bolster Iraqi spirits in the face of mounting international pressures and war threats.

Parliament leaders insisted after the session that they were sending a message of solidarity to the Iraqi people, even though the debate and vote were televised throughout the Arab world but not within Iraq. The vote indicated that the Iraqi government would not meet U.N. demands without a public show of displeasure.

"No matter what the consequences are, this decision defends and protects the independence and integrity of our people," Parliament Speaker Saadoun Hammadi told reporters after the vote. "This decision by the Iraqi National Assembly is the right and patriotic stance, which expresses the Iraqi people's opinion."

Meeting for a second day, parliament members railed against the resolution.

"It is the worst resolution adopted by the Security Council against Iraq. The resolution in all its clauses is ambiguous and impossible to implement and was written in a deceitful way to justify aggression on Iraq," said deputy Najib al-Rawi.

The resolution calls for access on demand to sites including presidential palaces previously off-limits, and requires Iraq to allow scientists and their families to leave the country to be interviewed by U.N. arms teams.

To the Iraqi parliament, the U.N. demands defy compliance and are viewed as simply a way for America to gain the world's permission to wage war.

"The resolution paves the way for a strike on Iraq. The American threat is inevitable whether with a resolution or without," said parliament member Mudaffar al-Adhamih.